How to hire HR professionals: Top tips for businesses

The most valuable asset in any business is its human capital. Without the right people in place, you risk letting down your customers, struggling to perform essential tasks, and missing your growth goals.

Employing top talent is not simply a case of honing your recruitment process. Once you have identified the best candidate for a given role, you need to onboard them successfully, help them feel supported in achieving their career objectives, and engage them in your culture, values, and mission.

All of those tasks, and many more besides, are the ultimate responsibility of your human resources function. Or to put it another way, if you do not have a high-performing HR team, the impact will be felt across your entire business. Read on to learn how to hire HR professionals:

Get the job description right

As with any role, hiring the best HR professionals starts with writing the perfect job description. This is your opportunity to spell out the requirements of the role and the types of candidates you’re looking to attract. Without a strong and clear job description, you risk wasting time during the hiring process speaking to candidates who are a poor fit for your business.

There are many elements to crafting an effective HR job description, but as a minimum, you should include:

• Job title
• Whether the role is office-based, fully remote, or hybrid
• Key internal relationships, such as line managers and direct reports
• Objectives for the role
• Necessary soft and hard skills and qualifications
• Salary range and benefits
• Detail about your organisation’s mission, vision, and values
• Opportunities for progression

There are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing a job description. For instance, be sure to avoid using internal jargon as it risks alienating external candidates. Only list the most essential skills and qualifications – do they really need to be bilingual, possess a Master’s degree in human resources management, and have 10 years of HR experience? Also, be sure to get signoff from all internal stakeholders involved in the hiring process before going to market.

Finally, don’t rely on the same job description to hire for every HR role you need to fill. Be sure to regularly review your job description to keep it relevant, ensure it speaks to your current needs, and effectively communicates the demands of the role.

Prioritise tech-proficient talent

Human resources recruitment processes often emphasise soft skills. This makes sense to an extent. After all, HR is a people-centric role; if candidates do not possess high levels of emotional intelligence and superb communication skills, they are unlikely to be successful.

But it is becoming increasingly important to seek out candidates who also have hard, technical skills. HR technology has brought efficiency to a wide range of human resources responsibilities, from talent acquisition to onboarding to candidate relationship management.

While it is not necessary for the ideal candidate to have practical experience using every tool in your HR tech stack, they should at least be familiar with equivalent apps and software suites. If you are hiring for a more senior human resources role, it is also extremely valuable for the candidate to be able to identify opportunities for further automation to bring greater efficiency to your HR workflows.

Look for sector-specific expertise

Employers often overlook sector-specific experience when hiring human resources professionals. But while the vast majority of HR skills are broadly transferable from one organisation or industry to another, it can be helpful for candidates to understand the challenges of working in your sector.

There are a whole range of benefits to hiring HR professionals with experience of working at businesses like yours. For instance, they are more likely to be familiar with the language of your industry, which makes it easier for them to communicate with stakeholders across the organisation. It can also give them a valuable insight into the types of personalities they are likely to be working with and how to engage them effectively.

Communicate your values

Regardless of their profession, the best candidates have long sought out employers that share their beliefs. However, this trend has accelerated since the pandemic, with research from the World Economic Forum revealing that six in 10 candidates are changing jobs to find a better fit between their values and those of their employer.

As such, if you want to attract and retain the best talent for your HR function, it pays to clearly emphasise your organisation’s mission, vision, and values.

Do you believe in helping your customers lead more sustainable lives? Building a diverse and inclusive company culture? Creating the most innovative, cutting-edge products? Promoting these overarching goals will not only help you resonate with high-performing candidates, but will also give you the best chance of retaining them for longer.

Ask the right interview questions

Having identified the best talent, your next task is to interview them to identify the candidate who will be the strongest fit for your role and organisation. While you will no doubt need to ask some of the most common interview questions, you should also take the time to ask some specific, HR-related questions. Examples include:

• How would you deal with workplace conflicts?
• What trends do you expect to shape the future of human resources?
• Based on what you know about our organisation, how would you define our company culture?
• How well do you think our culture aligns with our strategic goals?
• How do you deal with [common HR tasks, such as performance reviews or job terminations]?
• What does the ideal hiring process look like?

Especially for more senior HR hires, your goal here should be to ask questions that spark conversations and allow candidates to demonstrate their expertise.

What's next?

Ready to grow your HR function? Start by downloading our Salary & Skills Guide for Human Resources to find out exactly what you need to be doing to attract top talent.

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Alternatively, get in touch with the Michael Page Human Resources team today to start your hiring journey with us.

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